The Miracle Morning: A Sample Morning Routine to Supercharge Your Day

I’ve been desperately craving a morning routine for a couple years now.  Becoming the best possible version of myself has developed into somewhat of an obsession.  I’ve known that a good morning routine is crucial to that developmental process, but I haven’t been able to do it.

My journey of seeking happiness, feeling fulfilled and being successful started in 2013. For a year, I taught English with my wife on the world’s smallest atoll in the Pacific: Namdrik, Marshall Islands.  Although I didn’t have a passion for teaching, I had an abundance of free time to read a lot of books.  It was then that I decided to learn about a variety of topics including real estate investing, how to invest in the stock market, how to start a business, and How to Think and Grow Rich.

In total, I read somewhere around 84 books that year.  Not all were business, investing or positive psychology books, but I began building a foundation of knowledge for personal success and self-fulfillment.

My plan before, during, and after the Marshall Islands was to eventually attend law school, become a prosecutor, then a judge.  I figured becoming a police officer would look good for top law school admissions, so I became a cop for a few years.

Although I’ve been a successful cop, becoming valedictorian in my academy class, attaining the most arrests in the department two years in a row, while simultaneously doing my best to treat people well and mend the divide between law enforcement and public perception, I quickly learned that I didn’t want to go to law school.  Since I didn’t want to go to law school, I didn’t want to be a cop.

As a result, the cognitive dissonance I was feeling between what I was doing (being a cop) versus what I wanted to be doing (not be a cop) took a heavy toll on me.  I found myself wasting my days off in front of the tv, being unproductive, bored, feeling unsuccessful, and humming away at about 30% productivity.

In late 2016, I decided that enough was enough, and it was time to start a business.  I began reading entrepreneurial books again, which eventually led to reading positive psychology, productivity books like The ONE Thing, The Power of Habit, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, the The Millionaire Fastlane and many more.

Although terribly afraid of failure, I began the steps to start Strictly Man Supply Co. at the end of 2016.  In 2017, I learned how to source manufacturers, use customs brokers, and negotiate.  In late 2017, I learned how to build this blog, Strictly Manology, from scratch and started posting articles in January 2018.

You could say that I’ve accomplished a lot since my low 30% productivity levels, but I still feel like I’m ticking away at 65% productivity even now.  I’m thankful for what I have, a great wife, an amazing first rental property that will easily net us six figures when we sell in May, this blog, and business.  But, I still feel like I can do more, be more productive, waste less time, and be more successful.  I know I can accomplish that with a good morning routine.

But, why haven’t I had a good morning routine up to this point you ask? Excuses…plain and simple.

Being a cop is hard.  I switch between days and nights every month.  Sometimes I work weekends, sometimes I don’t.  Sometimes I get 9 hours of sleep, sometimes I get 3 hours.  Sometimes I get subpoenaed for court last minute, or I need to take care of something during regular business hours when I should be sleeping after a night shift.  Sometimes, after dealing with people’s worst problems day in and day out, I can’t bear to add one more thing to my “To-Do” list.

These are excuses.  Whether they have been good excuses or not, they have prevented me from feeling 100% fulfilled, productive and successful in my personal and business life.

This is no longer acceptable.

Over the last couple years, I’ve been reading a lot of these productivity, positive psychology books.  A lot of these books state that some of the most successful people around, such as Oprah, Tim Ferriss, Barack Obama, Tony Robbins, Tim Cook, and the late Steve Jobs, all have consistent morning routines.  These people credit their successes, in part, to their morning routines.

I feel like I’ve accumulated a lot of raw ingredients for a successful morning routine, such as drinking water, meditating and working out, but I never had the right recipe to put it all together.

Well, I’m leaving my cop job in a couple weeks.  My wife and I are moving back to her home state, and I will not have anymore excuses for not having a good quality morning routine.

I picked up The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod, eager to obtain the much-needed recipe for a good morning routine, and I finished the book in a day.  The book delivered what I was looking for, and I wanted to share it with you.

This post is as much for me as it is for you.  It is to hold me accountable, but also remind me of the basics after I return the book to the library.  I’ve modified it slightly for me personally, and who knows, maybe it will inspire you as well to start your morning routine.

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The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM)

By Hal Elrod

Wake Up Strategy

1. Set Intentions Before Going to Bed

Go to bed telling yourself that when you wake up in the morning, at your desired time, that you will wake up with energy and spring out of bed with excitement for starting the day.  Mindset is everything.  If you tell yourself you’ll be tired when you wake up, you’ll be tired when you wake up.  On the contrary, if you tell yourself you’ll be excited, well-rested, and will get up immediately when the alarm goes off, you will do just that.

2. Leave your Alarm Across the Room

This is so you’re not tempted to press snooze when it goes off.

3. Drink Water

Check out 8 Fantastic Benefits of Drinking Water after Waking Up.  Try to drink at least 32 ounces of water upon waking up. A good trick is to leave the water next to your bed in a large water bottle or container.

4. Change into Workout Clothes

Consider leaving your clothes and shoes right by your bed, thereby making this process that much easier.  Check out 7 Tips on How Men Should Dress for the Gym if it’s been a little while since you’ve worked out at the gym and are not sure what people wear anymore.

5. Brush Teeth

Use alcohol-based mouthwash for one more small pick-me-up.

Morning Routine S.A.V.E.R.S.

Silence (5 Minutes)

Focus on meditation, prayer, reflection, deep breathing, gratitude, or a combination of all!

When meditating, remember to find a quiet place to sit.  Sit cross-legged with your eyes closed or focused on the ground two feet ahead of you.  Take slow, deep breaths, in through the nose and out through the mouth.  Effective breathing causes your belly to expand, not just your chest.

Breath in for three seconds, hold for three seconds, and exhale for three seconds.

Focus on your breathing and inhaling positive, loving, peaceful energy, while exhaling stress and worries.

Affirmations (5 Minutes)

Read out loud or write down your goals and commitments relating to your Health, Wealth, Happiness and Love (or anything else you want to focus on).

Remember to dig down to the “why”.  Why do you want these?  Get down to the core emotions of why, not the superficial surface level stuff.

Also remember to get specific. Saying that I want to make the house look nice is not as good as saying that I am committed to staining the deck this weekend before the house goes on the market on Monday.

Examples:

I am committed to running 1.5 miles today, because I want a strong healthy heart in order to see my kids grow old.

I am committed to making 5 sales calls before noon today, because I want to increase revenue and go for a two-week vacation with my spouse instead of one.

I am committed to starting that new batch of beer, because brewing beer makes me feel happy, relaxed, and saves money, which I can put toward a special day excursion with my kids.

I am committed to writing a nice note for my spouse before they leave for work today, because I enjoy helping start their day off well and showing that I love them.

Visualization (5 Minutes)

Consider putting calm, classical music on for this then sit and close your eyes.

Visualize what you truly want.  This can be your goals, desires, dreams, anything!  If you want to go on vacation to Machu Picchu, visualize yourself on top of the mountain, touching the ruins, smelling the fresh, Andes Mountain air, drinking your tea or water out of a water bottle while hearing your feet putter along the ancient stone steps.

Visualize what you want with all your senses: taste, smell, touch, sight, sound.

Then, visualize yourself accomplishing those goals, desires, or dreams.  Visualize yourself working hard, saving up the money, buying the flights, researching the area, getting onto the plane, landing on the tarmac in Peru, meeting the people, having your first meal, staying at your hotel, etc.  Feel yourself meeting those goals with happiness and pleasure.

Exercise (20 Minutes)

This can take on any form of you wish, and the length of time can be increased or decreased depending on your preference, just make sure you do something.

Try yoga on your laptop, a 7-minute app workout from your phone, P90X, pushups/sit-ups/jumping jacks/pull-ups, going for a run, hitting up your stationary bike, using a row machine, anything to get your blood flowing and body moving.

Note: You can do these steps in any order.  Personally, I believe exercise will be the last thing I do, because I’d like to either go to the gym for weight training or focus on the other parts of the routine without being in hot, sweaty gym clothes.

Reading (20 Minutes)

This is the perfect time to fit reading into your schedule, and you only have to dedicate yourself to 10 or so pages per day (2 per day if you’re short on time).  Reading 10 pages per day equates to 3650 pages per year.  This means eighteen, 200-page books per year!

If you are spiritual, this would be a great time to focus on religious text.  Otherwise, reading personal development books or biographies make for a good use of this time.

Learn about stocks, real estate, money management, negotiation, how to be a great spouse or leader, anything that feeds You, Inc.  Remember to use your library card; you don’t need to buy every book!

Scribing aka Writing (5 Minutes)

Take this time to write down, day-by-day, whatever is on your mind.  Ideally, this will be done in a nice journal.

What are you grateful for?  What have you accomplished?  What would you like to accomplish?  What would you like to improve on?  How would you go about improving on something?  Do you have any business ideas?  Did you have a great day yesterday-what happened?  Did you learn any valuable lessons? What would you like to focus on?

This is pretty informal, so you write whatever you feel like writing.  You can focus on all these questions one day, or just one, or different questions the next day.  The point is to simply get your thoughts on paper, so you can track your progress and express yourself in writing.  Trust me, it works!

I have different sections in my journal that vary from blog article ideas, inspirational quotes, and books I’d like to read.

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Overall, this plan will take about an hour out of my day.  I already wake up at 5:50am, so I’m planning on waking up at 5am instead to get everything in.

But, if you don’t have the will or desire to spend an hour of your day doing this stuff.  You can get everything done in 6 minutes.  Minute one is dedicated to silence.  Minute two is dedicated to affirmation.  Minute three is dedicated to visualization and so on.

You won’t read as many pages in one minute as you would in twenty, nor will you get the same kind of workout in, but at least it’s something.  At least it’s progress.

Progress is a start, and a start is all you need, even if it is small.

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Other productivity pointers:

• Always start with the hard things on your “to-do” list first.  Not only is everything easier after that point, but it sets the day up for success knowing that you’ve accomplished your hardest task.  Moreover, you have more willpower in the beginning of the day than you do at the end.  So, if you put off doing your hardest task, you may never get it done, which generally leads to feelings of guilt and unaccomplishment.
• Only do ONE Thing at a time via time-blocking.  If you need to write a blog post, sit yourself down for 3-4 hours and write.  Don’t check e-mails, don’t do the dishes, don’t play with the dog outside.  It’s great to do those things, but not when you should be doing something else.  Instead, tell yourself that after doing three hours of writing, I’m going to spend 15 minutes outside with the dog, then 10 minutes doing dishes.  As the great Ron Swanson said, “never half-ass two things, whole-ass one thing”.

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I’d highly recommend you pick up a copy of The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM).

Good luck, and I hope this helps.

-Chris